IN SHORT: Many fake Facebook accounts use names of high-profile figures such as politicians. And here Kenyan cabinet secretary Moses Kuria’s name is being used to post political commentary, not linked to the CS.
“I will not apologise to Aga khan media,” reads a Facebook post by the account Moses Kuria CS Trade.
The account uses the name and photo of Kenyan politician and cabinet secretary Moses Kuria. It was created in March 2023 and shares political commentary that could easily be linked to the politician.
In June, Kuria publicly criticised Kenyan media house Nation Media Group (NMG), questioning whether it was “a gazette, a broadcasting house, a media house or an opposition party”. NMG was founded by Aga Khan IV in 1959.
This comes after NMG published an explosive article, detailing how unlawful tax exemptions related to oil imports could have cost Kenyans KSh10 billion. Kuria also threatened any government department advertising with the media house.
“You can still advertise auctioneers and funeral announcements. We will not stop those,” reads part of a tweet he later posted on his verified Twitter account.
But is this Facebook account in Kuria’s name and its posts to be trusted? We checked.
Facebook account impersonating politician
Africa Check went through the account’s posts. We noted that they were poorly written and often have randomly capitalised words and letters, odd punctuations, and a careless mix of English and Kiswahili. This is a red flag.
We checked Kuria’s official Twitter page and found none of the posts appearing on the fake Facebook page. This is another red flag as Kuria posts the same content on his Facebook and Twitter accounts.
The Facebook account Moses Kuria CS Trade is impersonating the politician and should be ignored.
To help protect yourself against online fraudsters, read our guide to Facebook scams and how to spot them.
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